General information

Cultural marks can be traced in the patrimonial history of the islands. It is a portrait of Canarian life both in times gone by and the present day. Sports cannot be omitted from this cultural framework, being as they are a cultural manifestation deeply rooted in the customs of the Canarian people.

The Canary Islands originate 30 million years ago, when submarine cracks spewed out lava due to a braking of the continental plate. Since then the geography of the Canary Islands is the geography of its volcanoes, found spread over all its territory. They are hundreds; sometimes various craters make up a single volcano. In particular, in Tenerife, Teide (3,718 metres), in Lanzarote, the spectacular Timanfaya National Park (5,198 hectares) and in El Hierro, Los Lajiales. Life has spawned itself on the lava in the form of vines which produce excellent clear wines, specially in La Geria (Lanzarote). Artists like Cesar Manrique have created constructions within the volcanoes, an example being Jameos del Agua, also in Lanzarote. Like the furrows of the earth, the footstep of life leaves its mark.

In 1402, the Normans, Jean de Bethencourt and Gadifer de la Salle, started the conquest of the islands, with Fuerteventura, Lanzarote and El Hierro. The conquest was completed seventy years later by the Catholic Kings who disembarked on the remaining islands and under the pressure of the Portuguese, decided to exercise their rights and as the heirs of the Visigoth monarchy. Conquering the aborigines of the different islands took the Castilians thirteen years of fighting. The Canary Islands thus became the warm Europe.

The cocktail of geographical elements which come together in the Canaries has bestowed the islands with the best of its treasures, its Nature. The natural gift of the volcanoes, the special position of the islands on the globe and their climate marked by the trade winds have created a privileged natural environment and an object of study.

With 145 Protected Nature Areas, 40% of the archipelago's surface is protected under one or other of the different levels of protection established by the Law of Canarian Nature Areas and equally unique flora and fauna reside in these aforementioned areas.

As well as the above, the marine environment provides a unique natural home, with a multitude of indigenous species. However, not only are the archipelago's surface and waters unique and protected but its clear skies are too. The land, sea and sky together form an equal and fragile landscape: a landscape which forms the backdrop to life in the Canaries; a landscape which informs us of the past and on which the future depends.

The Canarian climate is directly affected by the location of the Archipelago which lies on the tropic of Cancer as well as in the same geographical region as the Sahara desert and within the area of influence of the Azores anticyclone and the current known as the Canaries Cold Current.

The convergence of these two atmospheric phenomena determines the make up of the trade winds. These warm winds, combined with the shape of the islands, are responsible for the climatic stability that the Canaries enjoy throughout the whole year. Moderate temperatures of between 18 and 21 degrees, showers concentrated between November and March; as well as an average of 2,500 hours of sun per year characterize the stability which renders the Canarian Archipelago one of the World’s main tourist destinations.

The Canaries Music Festival, which is celebrated simultaneously throughout the Archipelago every winter, the theatre and dance festivals; the film festival in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria; the Latin music festival in Arona; the opera and zarzuela seasons; the art exhibitions in Lanzarote's Contemporary Art Museum and in the Atlantic Centre of Modern Art in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria; 'El Tanque' cultural centre and the numerous museums in each of the islands are all a clear demonstration of the abundant cultural life to be enjoyed in the islands throughout the year.

All of the above effortlessly complement the multiple traditions and popular feasts such as the 'Lustrales de la Palma' and their popular 'Dance of the Dwarfs' (which takes place every five years) or the procession of the 'Virgen de Los Reyes' (Virgin of the Kings) in El Hierro, 'las Alfombras del Corpus Christie' in La Orotova (where the streets are carpeted in flowers) and the festival of 'la Bajada de la Rama' in Agaete. In addition there are the incredibly colourful carnivals, celebrated throughout the Canaries but at their most ostentatious in Santa Cruz de Tenerife and Las Palmas de Gran Canaria.

Throughout history the fertility of Canarian cultural has provided, and continues to provide, personalities in all areas of the Arts from literature to architecture passing by way of painting, sculpture, poetry and music. With personalities such as Benito Pérez Galdós, Manolo Millares, César Manrique, Óscar Domínguez, and Alfredo Kraus, creativeness in the Canaries has become universal.